Rational use of animal objects. Rational use and protection of animals
The use of wildlife for recreational purposes is increasing every year. Previously, the main areas of such use were sport hunting and fishing. Nowadays, the importance of animals as objects of photo hunting and excursion observations is increasing. Millions of people from all over the world visit national parks to admire animals and birds in their natural setting.
By participating in the cycle of substances in the biosphere, animals play an important role in dynamic equilibrium.
Animals also serve as a source of food and raw materials for humans: suppliers to the leather (snakes, crocodiles, pigs) and fur (white-backed albatross, koala) industries.
Animals also have a negative meaning for humans. Among them there are pathogens (pathogen) and disease carriers (rats), pests of agricultural (bugs) and forest plants (silkworms, moths, caterpillars).
But the division of animals into “useful” and “harmful” is arbitrary and depends on the number, place, time, and economic activity of people. For example, starlings are useful in the spring: they destroy a large number of insect pests, and, in the fall, feeding on grape fruits, they cause significant damage to the vineyards. The blackbird and skylark are useful in Europe, but in New Zealand, where they were brought, they are agricultural pests. Therefore, when assessing the benefits and harms, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of nutrition, behavior, numbers, and the role in the spread of natural focal diseases in specific conditions of place and time.
Animal Protection Organization
The organization of fauna protection is built along two main directions - conservation and conservation in the process of use. Both directions are necessary and complement each other.
All conservation measures to protect animals are of an exceptional, emergency nature. Most often, the use and protection of fauna and measures for its reproduction have to be combined with the interests of other sectors of environmental management. The experience of many countries proves that this is quite possible. Thus, with proper land use management, agricultural production can be combined with the conservation of many wild animals.
Intensive forestry and timber harvesting, when properly organized, ensure the preservation of conditions for the habitat of many species of animals and birds in exploited forests. Thus, gradual and selective logging allows not only to restore forests, but also to preserve shelters, nesting and feeding grounds for many species of animals.
In recent years, wild animals have become an important part of the “tourism industry.” Many countries have successfully protected and used wild fauna for recreational purposes in national parks. National parks with the richest and most well-protected fauna and, at the same time, a high level of organization of mass tourism include Yellowstone and Yosemite parks in the USA, Kruger and Serengeti in Africa, the Camargue in France, Belovezhsky in Poland and many others.
To enrich the fauna, acclimatization and re-acclimatization of wild animals is carried out on a large scale in many countries. Acclimatization refers to the work of settling animals into new biogeocenoses and their adaptation to new living conditions. Reacclimatization is a system of measures to restore animals destroyed in a particular region. Thanks to acclimatization, it is possible to use the biological resources of many natural complexes more widely and more fully.
All measures to protect animals are quite effective if they are based on careful consideration of landscape and ecological conditions. In any type of work on organizing the multiplication and exploitation of wild fauna, one should proceed from the fact that certain species and populations of animals are confined within their boundaries to specific natural territorial and aquatic complexes or their anthropogenic modifications. Many animals move over considerable distances throughout the seasons, but their migrations are always confined to strictly defined types of landscapes. Therefore, animal protection requires solving the problems of protecting natural territorial and aquatic complexes as a whole. The protection of animals is, first of all, the protection of their habitats.
The main task of protecting rare and endangered species is to, by creating favorable habitat conditions, achieve an increase in their numbers, which would eliminate the danger of their extinction. This can include the creation of nature reserves, wildlife sanctuaries, and national parks in which conditions favorable to them are created.
A reserve is a piece of land or water space within which the entire natural complex is completely withdrawn from economic use and is under state protection (Greater Limpopo - South Africa; Aberdare - Kenya; Belovezhsky - Poland).
A sanctuary is a territory in which, while limiting the use of natural resources, certain species of animals and plants are temporarily protected (Pripyat - Belarus).
A national park is an area where landscapes and unique natural objects are protected. It differs from nature reserves in allowing visitors for recreation (Yellowstone - USA; Losiny Ostrov - Russia).
Rare and endangered species of animals (as well as plants) are included in the Red Books. The inclusion of a species in the Red Book is a signal about the danger that threatens it, about the need to take measures to save it.
The preservation and restoration of the number of game animals is of particular importance. As you know, the value of game animals lies in the fact that they live off natural food, which is inaccessible or unsuitable for domestic animals; they do not need special care. The system for protecting wild animals consists, on the one hand, of measures to protect the animals themselves from extermination and death from natural disasters, and, on the other hand, of measures to preserve their habitat. The protection of the animals themselves is carried out by hunting laws, which provide for a complete ban on hunting rare species, limiting the timing, norms, places and methods of hunting for commercial species.
The rational use of game animal stocks does not contradict their protection if it is based on knowledge of their biology. It is possible to achieve a healthy population of game animals by maintaining a certain ratio of sexes and age groups, regulating the number of predators. This is the idea of sustainable use.
Many animals are listed as rescued.
The eucalyptus forests of Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales were once teeming with koalas. But at the end of the last and beginning of our century, a terrible epidemic destroyed millions of these harmless creatures. Then fur hunters got down to business: Australia exported about 500 thousand koala skins every year. And in 1924, this profitable trade assumed such proportions that 2 million skins were already exported to the eastern states of the continent. But, fortunately, zoologists were able to convince the government in time to take strict measures to protect koalas. Nowadays, the koala lives only in a narrow strip along the east coast of Australia.
Another surviving animal is the muskrat. As you know, it is a valuable fur-bearing animal. One hundred to one hundred and fifty years ago they did not hunt it. The muskrat was not fashionable. At the beginning of the 20th century, unfortunately for herself, she became fashionable, and this almost ruined her.
Hunting Galapagos tortoises in the 17th century. Pirates were the first to appreciate their tender meat, stuffing the holds of ships with animals. There was no need to worry about the safety of these reserves. The fact is that turtles can live for more than one and a half years without water and food. Since then, hundreds of thousands of Galapagos giant tortoises have been exterminated, and some species have disappeared completely.
At the end of the last century, there was a monstrous extermination of bison. Often only because bison have excellent skins or to cut a small piece of meat or tongue from a bull’s carcass.
When a transcontinental train passed by a grazing herd of bison, all the passengers rushed to the windows and climbed out onto the roofs of the cars. They began firing from all kinds of weapons at the unfortunate animals, which were crowded so closely that they could not quickly run away. The driver deliberately slowed down, and when the train started moving, hundreds of thousands of bull carcasses were lying on both sides of the track, left for the jackals to eat. Some "amateur sportsmen" made special trips across the plains to shoot bison from the train.
The polar bear also disappears. The main reason for their death is the arrival of people to the Arctic on an unprecedented scale. It is believed that approximately five to eight thousand polar bears have survived in the vast expanses of our Arctic. On the Arctic islands north of America about ten years ago, about 600 polar bears died annually, and in the space between Greenland and Spitsbergen another 150-300 polar bears died. In 1965, the first international conference was held in Alaska, as a result of which a decision was made to ban hunting of mother bears with cubs, and the polar bear was declared an “animal of international importance.” And a year later, when the first volume of the “Red Book” was published, the polar bear was included in it as an animal that is in danger of complete destruction. And since 1972, the polar bear has been taken under the protection of the USSR, USA, Canada, Denmark and Norway.
Protection and rational use of poisonous animals
The reasons for the decline in the number of poisonous animals are different, just as the measures to protect them should be different. Thus, the number of snakes is declining not only due to the ingrained custom of destroying them, but also as a result of intensive catching of snakes for serpentariums, where they are used to repeatedly obtain poison. The decline in the number of poisonous insects is primarily due to the intensive use of pesticides that destroy both harmful and beneficial fauna. This list can also include pollution of seas and inland waters, destruction of non-commercial (including poisonous) fish caught in trawls, etc.
A decrease in the number of any species, and especially its disappearance, leads to very significant and sometimes irreversible changes in the structure of the biocenosis, and ultimately to undesirable consequences for humans. Each species, as is known, occupies only its own ecological niche and by its existence creates the prerequisites for the emergence of new ecological niches, which guarantees the infinity of evolution in space and time. Consequently, the intentional or unconscious destruction of one or another species, even if it is certainly dangerous for humans (for example, karakurt, scorpion, etc.), can lead to unpredictable consequences.
In recent years, environmental protection measures have acquired state status. In Russia, as in many countries of the world, along with the introduction of legislative acts aimed at protecting flora and fauna, the network of nature reserves and wildlife sanctuaries is expanding. A number of poisonous animals are included in the Red Books. Great importance should be given to explanatory and propaganda work among the population, especially schoolchildren. All these activities will undoubtedly bear fruit.
A comprehensive legal act regulating relations on the use and protection of wildlife is Federal Law No. 52-FZ of April 24, 1995 “On Wildlife”. The subject of regulation of legislation in the field of use and protection of wildlife is only the totality of living organisms of all types of wild animals that permanently or temporarily inhabit the territory of the Russian Federation and are in a state of natural freedom, as well as those related to the natural resources of the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation (Art. 1 of the Federal Law "On Fauna").
Thus, other animals (including domestic animals) that do not fall under the above definition are not subject to regulation of this branch of legislation.
Conservation of wildlife is an activity aimed at preserving biological diversity and ensuring the sustainable existence of wildlife, as well as creating conditions for the sustainable use and reproduction of wildlife objects.
The fauna within the Russian Federation is state property. Fauna can be provided for use by legal entities and individuals for the following types of use: hunting; fisheries, including the harvest of aquatic invertebrates and marine mammals; extraction of objects of the animal world that are not classified as objects of hunting and fishing; the use of beneficial properties of the vital activity of objects of the animal world - soil formers, natural environmental health workers, plant pollinators, biofilters and others; study, research and other use of wildlife for scientific, cultural, educational, educational, recreational, aesthetic purposes without removing them from their habitat; obtaining waste products from animals. This list is not exhaustive, and other types of use of wildlife are possible with the direct establishment of a specific species in other legal acts.
The use of the animal world is carried out through the removal of objects of the animal world from their habitat or without it. Objects of wildlife removed from their habitat in accordance with the established procedure may be in private, state, municipal or other forms of ownership.
The types of rights to use wildlife are long-term use (for legal entities), short-term use (for citizens).
The documents of title, respectively, are: long-term and short-term licenses, as well as an agreement on the provision of territories and water areas necessary for the use of wildlife in accordance with civil, land, water and forestry legislation.
In accordance with Art. 35 of the Federal Law “On Wildlife”, the use of wildlife is carried out by legal entities and individual entrepreneurs on the basis of a license for the period specified in the license by agreement of the parties and depending on the type of use of wildlife within the boundaries of a certain territory and water area. The use of wildlife is carried out by citizens on the basis of personalized one-time licenses for the extraction of a certain number of objects of wildlife in a certain place or for a specific period. Several types of wildlife use can be carried out on one territory and water area, if the implementation of one of them does not interfere with the implementation of the other.
In legislation, there is a right of priority in the provision of wildlife for use for the list of persons specified in the Federal Law “On Wildlife”.
If there are several equal priority applicants for the same territory or water area, wildlife is provided for use on the basis of competitions in compliance with antimonopoly requirements.
Objects of the animal world (organisms of animal origin or their populations) may be the exclusive federal property or the property of constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
The following fauna objects may be considered federal property:
- rare and endangered, as well as listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation;
- living in specially protected natural areas of federal significance;
- inhabiting the territorial sea, continental shelf and exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation;
- subject to international treaties of the Russian Federation;
- classified as specially protected and economically valuable;
- naturally migrating across the territories of two or more constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
The fauna of Russia is rich and diverse. Numerous species of game animals provide the country's national economy with food products, technical and medicinal raw materials. Game animals are a huge reserve for breeding. The gene pool of wild species can be used to improve breeds of domestic animals.
The establishment of a socialist system in our country, with its public ownership of the means of production and planned economic management, created favorable conditions for a rational and careful attitude to natural resources. Nature conservation in Russia has become a matter of great national importance.
In modern conditions, under the influence of rapidly developing productive forces and population growth, the impact of human economic activity on the natural environment has increased, which has made the problem of protecting nature, including the animal world, particularly relevant. Today, it is not only overhunting that is affecting the numbers of wild animals. Much more often, a reduction in the number of animals occurs due to the influence of such indirect factors as habitat destruction, introduction (invasion) of new species, reduction and deterioration of the food supply, the use of pesticides and herbicides, environmental pollution, etc.
Forms of nature conservation in Russia are different. The role of government officials in protecting the nature of our country is great. reserves, designed to preserve particularly valuable natural complexes. The first reserves (Astrakhansky - 1919, Ilmensky - 1920) were created on the initiative of V.I. Lenin. Currently, there are 143 nature reserves in our country with a total area of 13.7 million hectares. They exclude any economic activity (grass cutting, wood cutting, grazing, hunting) and other human interventions not related to nature conservation goals. The reserves serve as a good base for carrying out long-term complex scientific research and work related to maintaining the numbers of endangered species of animals and plants. Largely thanks to the reserves, the stocks of such valuable animals as sable and beaver were restored to commercial levels, and the bison, kulan and tiger were saved from the threat of extinction.
Protected forests, which perform water conservation, protective, sanitary, hygienic and health functions, are important for the conservation of many animals and plants.
Another form of protection of natural habitats in Russia is reserves for various purposes, in which certain forms of economic activity are allowed. They contribute to the restoration and increase in stocks of many game animals and birds, as well as chain fish. In Russia there are more than one thousand reserves with a total area of about 25 million hectares. The category of protected natural habitats also includes those created in our country. National parks, which, along with the protection of wildlife, serve as a place of recreation and mass tourism.
During the years of Soviet power, planned socialist hunting and fishing farms were created in our country, in which animal resources are rationally exploited. It provides a combination of animal harvesting, carried out on a strictly scientific basis, with extensive measures for their protection and enrichment. The protection of game animals is carried out by observing the timing and methods of hunting and fishing. Soviet legislation prohibits the use of predatory methods of hunting (from cars, airplanes, destruction of holes, nests, lairs, collecting eggs, etc.) and fishing (using explosives, prisons, etc.), leading to the mass extermination of animals.
The regulations on hunting and game management (for each union republic) indicate the species of animals and birds the hunting of which is completely prohibited, and the species the hunting of which is permitted only under licenses - special permits for shooting or capturing a strictly defined number of individuals. Fishing in Russia is regulated by the regulations on the protection of fish stocks and on the regulation of fishing in Russian water bodies and by the republican fishing rules. Important measures to protect fish stocks are: protecting the spawning grounds of valuable fish species, establishing a minimum size for commercial fish of a particular species in order to preserve juveniles, combating the pollution of rivers and lakes with waste from factories, factories and other industrial enterprises and wastewater. Violation of existing laws and rules of hunting and fishing is punishable by administrative and criminal means. The fight against poaching is underway.
The complex of problems for the protection of the animal world of Russia includes the task of preserving and restoring rare and endangered species of animals. Even in the first years of Soviet power (1919-1922), decrees were issued on hunting and the protection of such rare animals at that time as bison, sika deer, saiga, muskrat, beaver, egret, and flamingo. Somewhat later, the following were added to this list: kulan, goitered gazelle, Bukhara deer, goral, marking goat, tiger, cheetah, polar bear, eider, common loon, swans, some geese, etc. A complete ban on shooting and catching rare animals in combination with events In many cases, their resettlement in their former habitats yielded good results. There are many examples of the return of species that have become rare to the number of leading game animals of the Russian fauna. Thus, during the civil war, the number of moose sharply decreased, especially in the central regions of the European part of Russia. As a result of the introduction of a complete ban on shooting, its numbers gradually increased, so that after 25 years hunting for moose under licenses was allowed. Currently, more than 75 thousand moose are hunted annually in our country. Significant progress has been made in increasing the number of saiga, which has turned from an endangered animal into an important fishery target. The number of bison, which was also on the verge of extinction, has increased. By the beginning of the 20th century. In most areas of the taiga, the sable was exterminated by predators. The introduction of a complete ban on catching sable, combined with its widespread distribution in its former habitats, made it possible not only to restore, but also to bring the species’ numbers to commercial levels. Every year, 15 times more sable skins are harvested in our country than in pre-revolutionary Russia. It was also possible to increase the number of river beaver, sea otter, marten, otter and some other valuable fur-bearing animals.
Constant attention to problems of nature conservation is reflected in the Main Directions of Economic and Social Development of Russia for 1986-1990 and for the period until 2000, adopted by the XXVII Congress of the CPSU and in the Russian Law on the Protection and Use of Wildlife (1980). The Law pays great attention to rare and endangered species of animals. For the purpose of inventory and registration of these animals in our country, the Red Book of Russia was established in 1974, the first edition of which was published in 1978, the second in 1984. Depending on the degree of threat, all species and subspecies of animals listed in the Red Book of Russia, are divided into five categories: 1 - endangered; 2 - contracting; 3 - rare; 4 - unspecified little known, obviously endangered; 5 - restored. In total, 94 species and subspecies of mammals, 80 species of birds, 37 species of reptiles, 9 species of amphibians, 9 species of fish, 204 species of arthropods, 19 species of mollusks and 11 species of annelids are included in the Red Book of Russia. The Red Book of Russia is at the same time a scientifically based program of action to save rare species of animals and plants, reminiscent of caring for living nature. It aims to solve one of the main tasks developed in the World Conservation Strategy: to preserve all the genetic diversity of the biosphere, because today there is no way to determine the significance of a particular species for the future.
It is promising to create special centers for breeding rare species of animals in captivity. Our country already has experience of such work. The number of some valuable sturgeon fish of the Azov and Caspian seas (beluga, stellate sturgeon, Russian sturgeon) and salmon (whitefish) is preserved and increased solely due to their artificial reproduction in fish hatcheries. The same applies to the breeding of Far Eastern salmon fish. Breeding pheasants in special pheasant farms is of great importance for providing the country's hunting farms with these valuable birds. Zoos play a major role in the protection of rare animal species.
In our country, a lot of work is being done to enrich the fauna, with the goal of increasing the productivity of the land. It includes measures for the artificial resettlement of animals in order to acclimatize a number of valuable representatives of domestic and foreign fauna and reacclimatize previously exterminated species in their former habitats.
Work on the acclimatization of many game animals began in our country in the 20s. A number of species of fur-bearing animals were brought to Russia from abroad. The acclimatization of the North American rodent, the muskrat, which began in 1928, has been successful. Currently, the muskrat has spread over a significant part of the territory of the Soviet Union and occupies one of the leading places in the fur trade. Good results have been obtained on the spread of the South American rodent nutria in Transcaucasia and other places.
Artificial resettlement was also carried out in order to acclimatize a number of game animals and birds of the domestic fauna, which ensured a significant expansion of their ranges. Thus, the brown hare, which previously lived only in the European part of Russia and the Trans-Urals, was released in many places in Southern Siberia, and in some of them it became the object of hunting. The squirrel was settled in the forests of the Caucasus, Crimea and Eastern Tien Shan, where it successfully acclimatized. Sika deer that lived in the Primorsky Territory were acclimatized in a number of nature reserves and hunting grounds in the European part of Russia. In some of them, maral deer brought from Altai have also taken root. Pheasants and other valuable game birds were settled in the country's hunting grounds.
To enrich the fauna of commercial fish in the seas and fresh waters of Russia, many species of fish were acclimatized in those water basins where they had not previously been found. Thus, the Black Sea mullet was successfully acclimatized in the Caspian Sea, in lake. Issyk-Kul - Sevan trout, in the lake. Balkhash - Aral barbel, pike perch, bream, in the lakes of the Urals, Trans-Urals, Armenia and the Krasnoyarsk Territory - whitefish, which made it possible to increase the fish productivity of these reservoirs. Acclimatization of herbivorous fish - silver carp and grass carp - brought from the rivers of the Amur basin into the rivers, reservoirs and canals of the European part of Russia and Central Asia not only ensured an increase in fish productivity, but also made it possible to solve the problem of overgrowing of these reservoirs, in particular the Karakum Canal.
In Russia, a number of game animals are also being re-acclimatized, aimed at restoring their former habitats. Thus, the river beaver at the beginning of this century was almost completely exterminated and survived only in the most remote areas of Belarus, Ukraine, in the Voronezh, Tyumen regions and the Tuva Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Since 1930, artificial resettlement of the beaver began. Currently, the beaver is distributed from Belarus and Karelia to the Amur. The increase in its numbers made it possible to begin fishing for this valuable animal under licenses in 1963. Reacclimatization of the sable, released in more than 100 areas where it previously lived but was exterminated, made it possible to almost completely restore the range of this valuable fur-bearing animal. Reacclimatization of wild boars, red deer, and roe deer is also being carried out in hunting farms in a number of central and western regions of Russia.
The economic effect obtained from the acclimatization and re-acclimatization of many chain species of animals in Russia is obvious. At the same time, the experience of previous years has shown that the introduction of new species into natural biogeocenoses can be advisable only if there is confidence that the “invaders” will not cause the death of local species.
The protection and reproduction of game animals, birds, fish and other useful animals are of great importance for enriching the fauna of Russia. To this end, a broad program of work aimed at improving the living conditions of animals is being implemented in reserves and hunting farms in Russia. It is known that the number of the latter is often limited by the number of places suitable for building nests, burrows, shelters, for recreation, as well as food reserves, the presence of salt licks, watering places, etc. In this regard, the feeding of wild ungulates, fur-bearing animals, organized by hunting farms, becomes important animals and game birds, especially during the most difficult time of year for animals. Winter feeding not only saves beneficial animals from hunger, but also allows them to avoid contact with pesticides and maintain good nutrition for the breeding season. In some cases, winter feeding of birds can cause the appearance of sedentary populations.
The number of useful nesting birds can be increased by hanging artificial nesting sites (loop houses, birdhouses) near houses, in gardens, parks, and forest areas. By creating artificial shelters and nesting sites along the banks of water bodies, it is possible to increase the number of nesting mallard ducks.
Among the various biotechnical works carried out in our country, many are aimed at reproducing and increasing commercial fish stocks. They include the following measures: improvement of spawning sites, release of juveniles into channels from oxbow lakes separated during floods, feeding of fish in ponds and lakes, cleaning of reservoirs from weeds, etc. In Russian fish hatcheries, artificial insemination and incubation of fish eggs are carried out. with the further release of grown fry into natural reservoirs. On rivers whose flow is blocked by dams, fish passages and fish lifts are built for migratory fish.
Due to the indivisibility of the Earth's biosphere, success in solving many problems of nature conservation, including the animal world, can only be achieved through the combined efforts of all states on the planet. The interest of many states in nature conservation is reflected in the adoption of a system of broad international agreements on the protection and use of wildlife under the auspices of the UN and the development of bilateral agreements between countries with common interests on the issue under consideration.
Since the first years of its existence, the Soviet Union has constantly advocated the development and strengthening of international cooperation in the protection of nature and the rational use of its resources.
The state actively participates in the conclusion of international treaties, agreements and conventions of environmental significance. Thus, Russia has entered into special agreements on the regulation of fishing with Finland, Iran, Turkey and Japan. National legislation of Russia, Bulgaria and Romania on the protection of marine mammals of the Black Sea was adopted and agreed upon, a convention on the protection of migratory and rare birds was signed between Russia and Japan, Russia and the USA, as well as agreements between Russia and Denmark, Norway, Canada and the USA on the conservation of polar bears and etc.
Russia's active actions aimed at diverse international cooperation have already brought considerable benefits to the protection and rational use of wildlife.
REMEMBER
The role of animals
in the biosphere
Areas of greatest
animal diversity
Meaning of Animals
for humans
The importance of animals in nature and human economic activity. By participating in the cycle of substances in the biosphere, influencing the state of its components, animals play an important role in maintaining dynamic balance in it.
For humans, animals serve as a source of protein nutrition and fat, and as a supplier of raw materials for the leather and fur industries.
Animals also have a negative meaning for humans. Among them are pathogens and carriers of diseases of domestic animals and humans, pests of agricultural and forest plants. The division of animals into useful and harmful is conditional and depends on their numbers, nature and intensity of human economic activity. Depending on the place, time, and abundance, the same species can be beneficial or harmful to humans. For example, starlings are useful in the spring: they destroy a large number of insects - pests of gardens, fields and vegetable gardens, and in the fall, feeding on grape fruits, they cause significant damage to the vineyards. The blackbird and skylark are useful in Europe, but in New Zealand, where they were transported, they became agricultural pests. Therefore, when assessing the benefits and harms of each animal species, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of nutrition, behavior, numbers, and role in the spread of natural focal diseases in specific conditions of place and time.
Direct and indirect human impact on animals. The extinction of some and the appearance of other animal species is inevitable and natural. This happens in the course of natural evolution, with changes in climatic conditions, landscapes, and as a result of competitive relationships. This process is slow. Before the appearance of humans on Earth, the average lifespan of a species for birds was about 2 million years, for mammals - about 600 thousand years. Man has accelerated the death of many species.
Since 1600, when species extinction began to be documented, 94 species of birds and 63 species of mammals have become extinct on Earth. The death of most of them is associated with human activity (Fig. 131).
Human activity greatly influences the animal world, causing an increase in the number of some species, a decrease in others, and the death of others. This impact can be direct and indirect.
Direct impacts (persecution, extermination, relocation, breeding) are experienced by commercial animals that are hunted for fur, meat, fat, etc. As a result, their numbers decrease, and certain species disappear.
To combat agricultural pests, a number of species are relocated from one area to another. At the same time, there are often cases when migrants themselves become pests. For example, the mongoose, brought to the Antilles to control rodents, began to harm ground-nesting birds and spread rabies among animals.
Direct human impacts on animals include their death from pesticides used in agriculture and from poisoning by emissions from industrial enterprises.
The indirect influence of humans on animals is manifested due to changes in the habitat during deforestation, plowing of steppes, drainage of swamps, construction of dams, construction of cities, towns, roads, etc.
Some species find favorable conditions in human-modified environments and expand their ranges. Thus, house sparrows and tree sparrows, following the advance of agriculture to the north and east in the Palearctic, reached the tundra and the Pacific coast. Following the appearance of fields and meadows, the lark, lapwing, starling, and rook moved far to the north.
Under the influence of economic activity, anthropogenic landscapes with their characteristic fauna arose. Only in populated areas in the subarctic and temperate zones of the northern hemisphere are the house sparrow, city swallow, jackdaw, house mouse, gray rat, and some insects found.
Most animal species cannot adapt to changed conditions, are forced to move to new areas, reduce their numbers and die. Thus, as the European steppes were plowed, the number of marmots decreased greatly. Along with the marmot, the shelduck duck, which nested in its holes, disappeared. Steppe birds - the bustard and little bustard - have disappeared in many areas of their distribution (Fig. 134).
The negative impact of humans on animals is increasing, and for many species it is becoming threatening. Every year one species (or subspecies) of vertebrate animals dies; More than 600 species of birds and about 120 species of mammals are at risk of extinction. For such animals, special conservation measures are required.
Protection of rare and endangered species of animals. The main task of protecting rare and endangered species is to, by creating favorable habitat conditions, achieve such an increase in their numbers that would eliminate the danger of their extinction.
Rare and endangered species of animals (as well as plants) are included in the Red Books. The inclusion of a species in the Red Book is a signal of the danger that threatens it and the need to take urgent measures to save it. Each country in whose territory a species included in the Red Book lives is responsible to its people and all humanity for its conservation.
In our country, to preserve rare and endangered species, reserves and wildlife sanctuaries are organized; animals are resettled in areas of their former distribution, fed, shelters and artificial nesting sites are created, and protected from predators and diseases. When numbers are very low, animals are bred in captivity (in nurseries and zoos) and then released into suitable conditions.
Protection and restoration of the number of game animals. The preservation and restoration of the number of game animals is of particular importance. As you know, the value of game animals lies in the fact that they live off natural food, which is inaccessible or unsuitable for domestic animals; they do not need special care. From game animals people receive meat, furs, leather, raw materials for the perfume industry and medicines. For some peoples of the North, hunting wild animals is the basis of their existence.
Among game animals, fish, birds and animals are of greatest importance. Centuries of ever-increasing mining, as well as changes in their habitat, led in the first half of this century to a sharp reduction in their reserves. Of the mammals, the stocks of ungulates, fur-bearing and sea animals have declined the most. There was even an opinion that they could only be preserved in nature reserves. However, the successful restoration of the numbers of some species - elk, beaver, sable - made it possible to once again include them in the number of game animals.
Among game birds, waterfowl, vultures and bustards have suffered especially severely due to human fault. The number of geese, swans, and geese has decreased significantly. The red-breasted goose, little swan, white and mountain geese, Caucasian grouse, bustard and many other species are included in the Red Book of the Russian Federation (Fig. 130).
The system for protecting wild animals consists, on the one hand, of measures to protect the animals themselves from direct extermination or death from natural disasters, and, on the other hand, of measures to preserve their habitat. The protection of the animals themselves is carried out by hunting laws. They provide for a complete ban on hunting rare species and restrictions on the timing, norms, places and methods of hunting other commercial species.
The rational use of game animal stocks does not contradict their protection if it is based on knowledge of their biology.
It is known that in animal populations there is a certain reserve of non-reproducing individuals; they are able to increase fertility with low numbers and abundance of food. It is possible to achieve the well-being of game animal populations by maintaining a certain ratio of sex and age groups and regulating the number of predatory animals.
The protection of hunting grounds is based on knowledge of the habitat conditions necessary for the life of commercial species, the availability of shelters, suitable places for nesting, and the abundance of food. Often the optimal places for species to exist are nature reserves and wildlife sanctuaries.
Reacclimatization of a species is its artificial resettlement in areas of its former distribution. It is often successful, since the species occupies its former ecological niche. Acclimatization of new species requires extensive preliminary preparation, including making forecasts of their impact on the local fauna and possible role in biocenoses. The experience of acclimatization shows many failures. The importation of 24 rabbits to Australia in 1859, which decades later gave rise to multimillion-dollar offspring, led to a national disaster. The multiplied rabbits began to compete for food with local animals. By settling in pastures and destroying vegetation, they caused enormous damage to sheep farming. Fighting rabbits required enormous effort and a long time. There are many such examples. Therefore, the relocation of each species should be preceded by a thorough study of the possible consequences of the introduction of the species into a new territory based on an environmental assessment and forecast.
Timely measures taken make it possible to successfully maintain the required number of game animals and use them for a long time.
An integral element of the natural environment and an object of protection is the animal world - the totality of living organisms of all types of wild animals that permanently or temporarily inhabit the territory of Russia and are in a state of natural freedom, as well as belonging to the natural resources of the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation.
The fauna is an important regulating and stabilizing component of the biosphere, fully protected and rationally used to satisfy the spiritual and material needs of citizens. The main regulation is carried out by the Federal Law “On Fauna” of 1995.
Principles of protection and use of wildlife
As with the protection of the entire environment and its individual parts, the protection and use of wildlife is inherent in the basic principles of the direction of this activity. Some of them are general for environmental protection, others are of a specific nature, characteristic of the protection of the animal world, the preservation and restoration of its habitat. That is why consideration of the problems of protecting individual natural resources, the use of which affects the state of the environment, and their conservation and restoration in turn depends on it, is necessary when studying environmental law.
The first principle of the protection and use of wildlife is to ensure its sustainable existence. This requires stable and regular use of wildlife, state and public support for activities to protect wildlife and their habitat. In certain territories and water areas or for certain periods, certain types of use of wildlife and the removal of their objects from their habitat may be limited, suspended or prohibited.
When introducing virgin lands, wetlands and coastal areas into economic circulation, grazing and running farm animals, developing tourist routes and organizing places for mass recreation of the population, measures must be taken to preserve the conditions for feeding, migration, reproduction, rearing of young animals, and wintering of fauna. When protective areas of territory are allocated with restrictions on economic activity, the owner of the areas is paid compensation.
An important principle of management activities in relation to any natural resource, including in relation to wildlife, is the inadmissibility of combining activities to exercise state control over the use and protection of wildlife and its habitat with activities to use objects of the animal world or their population).
The fauna, being an integral part of the natural environment, acts as an integral link in the chain of ecological systems, a necessary component in the process of the cycle of substances and energy of nature, actively influencing the functioning of natural communities, the structure and natural fertility of soils, the formation of vegetation, the biological properties of water and quality the natural environment as a whole. At the same time, the animal world is of great economic importance: as a source of food products, industrial, technical, medicinal raw materials and other material assets and therefore acts as a natural resource for hunting, whaling, fishing and other types of fishing. Certain species of animals have great cultural, scientific, aesthetic, educational, and medicinal significance. Each animal species is an irreplaceable carrier of the genetic fund.
The use of wildlife for recreational purposes is increasing every year. Previously, the main areas of such use were sport hunting and fishing. Nowadays, the importance of animals as objects of photo hunting and excursion observations is increasing. Millions of people from all over the world visit national parks to admire animals and birds in their natural setting.
By participating in the cycle of substances in the biosphere, animals play an important role in dynamic equilibrium. Animals also serve as a source of food and raw materials for humans: suppliers to the leather (snakes, crocodiles, pigs) and fur (white-backed albatross, koala) industries. Animals also have a negative meaning for humans. Among them there are pathogens (pathogen) and disease carriers (rats), pests of agricultural (bugs) and forest plants (silkworms, moths, caterpillars).
But the division of animals into “useful” and “harmful” is arbitrary and depends on the number, place, time, and economic activity of people. For example, starlings are useful in the spring: they destroy a large number of insect pests, and, in the fall, feeding on grape fruits, they cause significant damage to the vineyards. The blackbird and skylark are useful in Europe, but in New Zealand, where they were brought, they are agricultural pests. Therefore, when assessing the benefits and harms, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of nutrition, behavior, numbers, and the role in the spread of natural focal diseases in specific conditions of place and time.
The animal world of our planet has about 2 million species of animals. As a result of human impact, the numbers of many species have decreased significantly, and some of them have completely disappeared. Modern man has existed on Earth for about 40 thousand years. He began to engage in cattle breeding and agriculture only 10 thousand years ago. Therefore, for 30 thousand years, hunting was an almost exclusive source of food and clothing. The improvement of hunting tools and methods was accompanied by the death of a number of animal species.
The development of weapons and vehicles allowed man to penetrate into the most remote corners of the globe. And everywhere the development of new lands was accompanied by the merciless extermination of animals and the death of a number of species. The tarpan, the European steppe horse, was completely destroyed by hunting. The victims of the hunt were aurochs, spectacled cormorant, Labrador eider, Bengal hoopoe and many other animals. As a result of unregulated hunting, dozens of species of animals and birds are on the verge of extinction.
The number of animals is decreasing not only as a result of direct extermination, but also due to the deterioration of environmental conditions in territories and habitats. Anthropogenic changes in landscapes adversely affect the living conditions of most animal species. Clearing forests, plowing steppes and prairies, draining swamps, regulating runoff, polluting the waters of rivers, lakes and seas - all this taken together interferes with the normal life of wild animals, leading to a decrease in their numbers even with a ban on hunting.
Intensive timber harvesting in many countries has led to changes in forests. Coniferous forests are increasingly being replaced by small-leaved forests. At the same time, the composition of their fauna also changes. Not all animals and birds living in coniferous forests can find enough food and shelter in secondary birch and aspen forests. For example, squirrels and martens and many species of birds cannot live in them.
The transformation and change in the nature of many rivers and lakes radically changes the living conditions of most river and lake fish and leads to a decrease in their numbers. Pollution of water bodies causes enormous damage to fish stocks. At the same time, the oxygen content in the water sharply decreases, which leads to massive fish kills. Dams on rivers have a huge impact on the ecological state of water bodies. They block the path of migratory fish to spawn, worsen the condition of spawning grounds, and sharply reduce the flow of nutrients into river deltas and coastal parts of seas and lakes. To prevent the negative impact of dams on the ecosystems of aquatic complexes, a number of engineering and biotechnical measures are being taken (fish passages and fish lifts are being built to ensure the movement of fish to spawn). The most effective way to reproduce fish stocks is to build fish hatcheries and fish hatcheries.
Human activity greatly influences the animal world, causing an increase in the number of some species, a decrease in others, and the death of others. This impact can be direct and indirect.
Direct impacts are experienced by commercial animals that are hunted for fur (muskrat, chinchilla, foxes, mink), meat (African donkey), fat (whales, pigs), etc. As a result, their numbers decrease and some species disappear.
To combat agricultural pests, a number of species move from one area to another. At the same time, there are often cases when migrants themselves become pests. For example, the mongoose, brought to the Antilles to control rodents, began to harm ground-nesting birds and spread rabies among animals. Direct human impacts on animals also include their death from pesticides and poisoning by emissions from industrial enterprises.| The most striking example of this impact on animals is whaling (the creation of a harpoon cannon and floating bases for whale processing) at the beginning of the century, which led to the disappearance of individual whale populations and a sharp drop in their total numbers.
The indirect influence of humans on animals is manifested due to changes in the habitat during deforestation (black stork), plowing of steppes (steppe eagle, bustard and little bustard), drainage of swamps (Far Eastern stork), construction of dams (fish), construction of cities, use of pesticides ( red-legged stork), etc.
Under the influence of economic activity, anthropogenic landscapes with their characteristic fauna arose. Only in populated areas in the subarctic and temperate zones of the northern hemisphere are house sparrows, city swallows, jackdaws, and house mice found.
The plowing of steppes and prairies and the reduction of island forests in the forest-steppe are accompanied by the almost complete disappearance of many steppe animals and birds. In steppe agrocenoses, saigas, bustards, little bustards, gray partridges, quails, etc. have almost completely disappeared. The negative impact of humans on animals is increasing, and for many species it is becoming threatening. Every year one species (or subspecies) of vertebrate animals dies; More than 600 species of birds (bustard, bar-headed goose, mandarin duck) and 120 species of mammals (Amur tiger) are in danger of extinction. For such animals, special conservation measures are required.
The organization of fauna protection is built along two main directions - conservation and conservation in the process of use. Both directions are necessary and complement each other. All conservation measures to protect animals are of an exceptional, emergency nature. Most often, the use and protection of fauna and measures for its reproduction have to be combined with the interests of other sectors of environmental management. The experience of many countries proves that this is quite possible. Thus, with proper land use management, agricultural production can be combined with the conservation of many wild animals.
Intensive forestry and timber harvesting, when properly organized, ensure the preservation of conditions for the habitat of many species of animals and birds in exploited forests. Thus, gradual and selective logging allows not only to restore forests, but also to preserve shelters, nesting and feeding grounds for many species of animals.
In recent years, wild animals have become an important part of the “tourism industry.” Many countries have successfully protected and used wild fauna for recreational purposes in national parks. National parks with the richest and most well-protected fauna and, at the same time, a high level of organization of mass tourism include Yellowstone and Yosemite parks in the USA, Kruger and Serengeti in Africa, the Camargue in France, Belovezhsky in Poland and many others.
To enrich the fauna, acclimatization and re-acclimatization of wild animals is carried out on a large scale in many countries. Acclimatization refers to the work of settling animals into new biogeocenoses and their adaptation to new living conditions. Reacclimatization is a system of measures to restore animals destroyed in a particular region. Thanks to acclimatization, it is possible to use the biological resources of many natural complexes more widely and more fully. All measures to protect animals are quite effective if they are based on careful consideration of landscape and ecological conditions. In any type of work on organizing the multiplication and exploitation of wild fauna, one should proceed from the fact that certain species and populations of animals are confined within their boundaries to specific natural territorial and aquatic complexes or their anthropogenic modifications. Many animals move over considerable distances throughout the seasons, but their migrations are always confined to strictly defined types of landscapes. Therefore, animal protection requires solving the problems of protecting natural territorial and aquatic complexes as a whole. The protection of animals is, first of all, the protection of their habitats.
The main task of protecting rare and endangered species is to, by creating favorable habitat conditions, achieve an increase in their numbers, which would eliminate the danger of their extinction. This can include the creation of nature reserves, wildlife sanctuaries, and national parks in which conditions favorable to them are created.
A reserve is a piece of land or water space within which the entire natural complex is completely withdrawn from economic use and is under state protection (Greater Limpopo - South Africa; Aberdare - Kenya; Belovezhsky - Poland).
A sanctuary is a territory in which, while limiting the use of natural resources, certain species of animals and plants are temporarily protected (Pripyat - Belarus).
A national park is an area where landscapes and unique natural objects are protected. It differs from nature reserves in allowing visitors for recreation (Yellowstone - USA; Losiny Ostrov - Russia).
Rare and endangered species of animals (as well as plants) are included in the Red Books. The inclusion of a species in the Red Book is a signal about the danger that threatens it, about the need to take measures to save it. The preservation and restoration of the number of game animals is of particular importance. As you know, the value of game animals lies in the fact that they live off natural food, which is inaccessible or unsuitable for domestic animals; they do not need special care. The system for protecting wild animals consists, on the one hand, of measures to protect the animals themselves from extermination and death from natural disasters, and, on the other hand, of measures to preserve their habitat. The protection of the animals themselves is carried out by hunting laws, which provide for a complete ban on hunting rare species, limiting the timing, norms, places and methods of hunting for commercial species.
The rational use of game animal stocks does not contradict their protection if it is based on knowledge of their biology. It is possible to achieve a healthy population of game animals by maintaining a certain ratio of sexes and age groups, regulating the number of predators. This is the idea of sustainable use.
Many animals are listed as rescued. The eucalyptus forests of Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales were once teeming with koalas. But at the end of the last and beginning of our century, a terrible epidemic destroyed millions of these harmless creatures. Then fur hunters got down to business: Australia exported about 500 thousand koala skins every year. And in 1924, this profitable trade assumed such proportions that 2 million skins were already exported to the eastern states of the continent. But, fortunately, zoologists were able to convince the government in time to take strict measures to protect koalas. Nowadays, the koala lives only in a narrow strip along the east coast of Australia.
Another surviving animal is the muskrat. As you know, it is a valuable fur-bearing animal. One hundred to one hundred and fifty years ago they did not hunt it. The muskrat was not fashionable. At the beginning of the 20th century, unfortunately for herself, she became fashionable, and this almost ruined her.
Hunting Galapagos tortoises in the 17th century. Pirates were the first to appreciate their tender meat, stuffing the holds of ships with animals. There was no need to worry about the safety of these reserves. The fact is that turtles can live for more than one and a half years without water and food. Since then, hundreds of thousands of Galapagos giant tortoises have been exterminated, and some species have disappeared completely.
At the end of the last century, there was a monstrous extermination of bison. Often only because bison have excellent skins or to cut a small piece of meat or tongue from a bull’s carcass. When a transcontinental train passed by a grazing herd of bison, all the passengers rushed to the windows and climbed out onto the roofs of the cars. They began firing from all kinds of weapons at the unfortunate animals, which were crowded so closely that they could not quickly run away. The driver deliberately slowed down, and when the train started moving, hundreds of thousands of bull carcasses were lying on both sides of the track, left for the jackals to eat. Some "amateur sportsmen" made special trips across the plains to shoot bison from the train.
The polar bear also disappears. The main reason for their death is the arrival of people to the Arctic on an unprecedented scale. It is believed that approximately five to eight thousand polar bears have survived in the vast expanses of our Arctic. On the Arctic islands north of America about ten years ago, about 600 polar bears died annually, and in the space between Greenland and Spitsbergen another 150-300 polar bears died. In 1965, the first international conference was held in Alaska, as a result of which a decision was made to ban hunting of mother bears with cubs, and the polar bear was declared an “animal of international importance.” And a year later, when the first volume of the “Red Book” was published, the polar bear was included in it as an animal that is in danger of complete destruction. And since 1972, the polar bear has been taken under the protection of the USSR, USA, Canada, Denmark and Norway.
WWF - founded in 1961. - an international public organization that subsidizes actions for the protection and study of endangered and rare species of animals, plants and their habitats. Conservation groups are at the forefront of the ecotourism movement. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) conducts important research that includes helping to determine ecotourism opportunities in developing countries. In addition, WWF finances many projects related to ecotourism.
- Greenpeace - founded in 1971. is an independent international public organization aimed at preserving the environment. Greenpeace opposes nuclear testing and the radiation threat, environmental pollution from industrial waste, in defense of wildlife, etc.
- In addition, the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature has become widely known. Already in 1949, the IUCN began collecting information on rare animals and plants. It took 14 years for the first IUCN Red Data Book to appear in 1963. '71 The two volumes were summaries of 211 mammals and 312 birds. In 1966, the second edition was published, which was much more voluminous and included information not only about mammals and birds, but also amphibians and reptiles. Just like the first, this edition was not intended for wide distribution. Volumes of the 3rd edition of the IUCN Red Book began to appear in 1972, and have already begun to go on sale; its circulation has been significantly increased. The latest edition, published in 1978-80, includes 226 species and 70 subspecies of mammals, 181 species and 77 subspecies of birds, 77 species and 21 subspecies of reptiles, 35 species and 5 subspecies of amphibians, 168 species and 25 subspecies of fish. Among them are 7 restored species and subspecies of mammals, 4 of birds, 2 species of reptiles. Since 1981, with the participation of the World Environmental Monitoring Center (WCMC) in Cambridge (UK), publications began to be published with the title “IUCN Red Book”.
- Red Book of the USSR.
The beginning of the creation of the Red Book of the USSR can be considered the first list of birds and mammals for the IUCN Red Book, prepared by G.P. Dementiev, V.G. Geptner, A.A. Nasimovich, A.G. Bannikov and other zoologists in 1961-64. The first Red Book of the USSR appeared in 1978. The significance of the Red Book of the USSR in the protection of rare species lay primarily in the fact that it became the basis for legislative acts aimed at protecting the animal and plant world. In addition, it essentially represents a scientifically based program of practical measures to save rare species. And finally, the role of the Red Book is invaluable as a means of educating and promoting a reasonable and caring attitude towards animals and plants in general and rare ones in particular.
The second edition of the Red Book of the USSR was published in 1984. It was much more voluminous; the first volume “Animals” included new large sections: the class of fish was added from vertebrates, and invertebrate animals were included for the first time. The Red Book of Plants has compiled the second volume.
- The Red Book of Russia.
Work continues on the Red Book of Russia. The official basis for its creation is now the Law “On Animal World” (1995) and the Government Resolution of 1996. In particular, it declares that the Red Book of the Russian Federation is an official document containing a collection of information about rare and endangered species of animals and plants, as well as the necessary measures for their protection and restoration.
The legal basis for the state’s environmental activities in this area is the RSFSR Law “On the Protection and Use of Wildlife,” as well as hunting and fishing legislation.
The basic requirements that must be observed when planning and implementing activities that may affect the habitat of animals and the state of the animal world are set out in Art. 8 of the Law. These requirements include: the need to preserve the species diversity of animals in a state of natural freedom; protection of habitat, breeding conditions and migration routes of animals; maintaining the integrity of natural animal communities; scientifically based rational use and reproduction of wildlife; regulation of animal numbers in order to protect public health and prevent damage to the national economy. The last requirement is provided for in Art. 18 of the law, which states that measures to regulate the number of certain species of animals must be carried out in humane ways that exclude harm to other species of animals and ensure the safety of the animal’s habitat.
Measures for the protection of wildlife are recorded in Art. 21 laws. Some requirements are specified in other articles of the Law. Thus, the requirement to protect the habitat, breeding conditions and migration routes is specified in relation to economic activities, namely: in the placement, design, construction of settlements, enterprises, structures and other objects, in the improvement of existing and introduction of new technological processes, introduction into economic circulation virgin lands, wetlands, coastal and shrub territories, land reclamation, forest use, geological exploration, mining, determining places for grazing and running farm animals, developing tourist routes and organizing places for mass recreation of the population, as well as during accommodation, the design and construction of railways, highways, pipelines and other transport routes, power and communication lines, canals, dams and other hydraulic structures must ensure the implementation of measures to fulfill this requirement.
In accordance with Art. 24 of the law, enterprises and citizens are obliged to take measures to prevent the death of animals during agricultural, logging and other work, as well as during the operation of vehicles. Without the implementation of such measures, burning of dry vegetation, storage of materials, raw materials and production waste is prohibited. In order to protect the animal world, a more stringent regime for the use of animals in nature reserves, sanctuaries and other specially protected areas is established. Types of use of wildlife and other responsibilities incompatible with the goals of conservation are prohibited here.
The protection of rare and endangered species of animals is of great importance. Such animals are included in the Red Book. Actions that could lead to the death of these animals, a reduction in their numbers, or disruption of their habitat are not permitted. In cases where the reproduction of rare and endangered species of animals is impossible in natural conditions, specially authorized state bodies for the protection and regulation of the use of wildlife must take measures to create the necessary conditions for breeding these species of animals. Their acquisition and removal for breeding in specially created conditions and subsequent release for research purposes, for the creation and replenishment of zoological collections is permitted under a special permit issued by specially authorized state bodies for the protection and regulation of the use of wildlife.
The objects of use and protection are only wild animals (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibious fish, as well as mollusks, insects, etc.) living in a state of natural freedom on land, in water, atmosphere, in soil, permanently or temporarily inhabiting the territory of the country . Agricultural and other domestic animals, as well as wild animals kept in captivity or semi-captivity for economic, cultural, scientific, aesthetic or other purposes are not such an object. They are property owned by the state, cooperative, public organizations, citizens, and are used and protected in accordance with the legislation concerning state and personal property.
A feature of the animal world is that this object is renewable, but this requires compliance with certain conditions directly related to the protection of animals. If exterminated or the conditions of their existence are violated, certain species of animals may completely disappear, and their renewal will be impossible. Conversely, maintaining the conditions for the existence of the animal world, regulating the number of animals, taking measures to breed endangered species contribute to their restoration and renewal. The animal world is susceptible to transformative human activity: it is possible to domesticate wild animals, crossbreed and breed new species, raise certain species of animals in artificial conditions and move them to natural habitats.
The largest Russian scientist, academician V.I. More than half a century ago, Vernadsky noted that the power of human activity can be compared with the geological force of the Earth, raising mountain ranges, lowering continents, moving continents, etc. Since that time, humanity has come far forward, and therefore the power of man has increased thousands of times. Now one enterprise - the Chernobyl nuclear power plant - has caused irreparable harm to a huge region, which is connected by inextricable ecological ties not only with a separate continent, but is also of great importance for life on Earth and changes in planetary processes. Since people’s relationship to nature exists only through production relations, environmental management in each country is associated with significant socio-economic relations in it. The differences in socio-economic systems, which also determine the differences in environmental and legal regulation of different countries, require a careful analysis of law enforcement practice.
The increasing threat of environmental disaster on a global scale raises awareness of the urgent need to rationalize environmental management and coordinate efforts to protect the environment within the entire international community.
Recently, irreversible changes have occurred in our country - the USSR collapsed, and union structures disappeared. The formation of sovereign states with a difficult environmental heritage should make us think about creating a single environmental space to overcome the environmental crisis. It is through unification that the path to solving all the environmental problems facing the republics lies.